PAGASA urges public to prepare for La Niña phenomenon

The expected onset of rainy season is on third week or fourth week of June to be declared by PAGASA. (Facebook photo)

ILOILO CITY – The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) here in Visayas advises the public to prepare for La Niña phenomenon that is expected to hit the country middle of this year.

PAGASA Visayas officer-in-charge Oscar Tabada said that the country was expected to experience rains, floods and typhoons by last week of June or first week of July.

“Local government units are advised to start cleaning the rivers; they should remove the garbage on the creeks and start dredging and remove the sands so it will not hinder the flow of water on the rivers and the people living near the rivers will not be in danger of overflowing water,” he added.

Tabada also advised people living in the mountain areas to be vigilant against landslides that may happen.

“If there is a series of rainfall, there will really be landslides that will happen,” he said.

PAGASA will put telemetries on the flood control project to measure the water level when there are floods.

Last year, PAGASA recorded about 17 typhoons that hit the country but it will be lesser this year due to the El Niño phenomenon.

However, while Iloilo experienced rain on May 17, Tabada said that it was not an indication of the onset of the rainy season.

The expected onset of rainy season is on third week or fourth week of June to be declared by PAGASA.

“There is a criteria before declaring the onset of rainy season. If there are more rains that is about 55 millimeters for three days, and there is presence of typhoon in the country, then that is the time that we could declare the onset of rainy season,” he added.

Iloilo will experience rainfall until Sunday, according to PAGASA.

Further, Iloilo and other parts of Western Visayas will still experience drought condition this month until the first two weeks of June.